ScholarWorks@숙명여자대학교

초록

This paper explores how Ann Bradstreet and Mary Rowlandson use tolerance to balance their desire to write their thoughts and the demands of the Puritan culture, which do not allow women to write due to its strict gender roles. Analyzing the characteristics of tolerance that each writer uses in her work, the reader can see the features of the early Puritan society and figure out what Bradstreet and Rowlandson show to be desirable tolerance, which can apply to modern people. First, Bradstreet empowers the Puritan society, arousing pity for the inferior who want to write poems. Although she seems to be groveling before society, she criticizes the childishness and narrow-mindedness of the Puritan society that impedes her writing. Second, Rowlandson realizes the gap between the needs of the Puritan society, which tries to unite the Puritans, and her need to prove her purity after being released from Indian captivity. The statement of the Puritan leader emphasizes that it is God’s mercy that keeps Rowlandson alive, but that is not good enough for her to receive confidence from the community. Rather, she is moved by a little gesture that her neighbor gives to her, because such a trivial action occurs when people truly accept her as their neighbor. Rowlandson thinks that real tolerance is to practice one’s mind to others sincerely.

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